Putty knife



- F. R. BUSSERT Jan. 27, 1942.

PUT'IY KNIFE Filed June 20, 1940 INVENTOR 6/315. 5 M73145 ATTORNEYS against the glass.

Patented Jan. 27, 1942 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in putty knives and consists of the matters hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The improved putty knife is of the kind shown in my prior Patent No. 2,193,390 granted March 12, 1940; and comprises blades disposed at an obtuse angle to each other, with a space between them at the apex of said angle and extending to the ends of said blades, with a handle to which said blades are attached and by means of which the putty knife is manipulated.

With the use of such putty knife, a symmetrical sealing body of putty with a straight, unwavering edge in contact with the pane and with a substantially smooth, flat, inclined surface of the exposed putty may be readily applied by an amateur.

I have found, however, that in the use of my aforesaid putty knife, where the putty is applied freely and in excess of the amount actually needed, the excess may be and is generally left by the point of the blade applying the putty, laterally beyond the line of its travel This does not interfere with the formation of a straight, unwavering edge by the point, but makes it necessary to remove the excess that sticks to the glasss beyond said edge. In this the putty knife of my aforesaid patent in its operation is like that of the ordinary single blade putty knife.

The object of the improved putty knife is to provide a construction by means of whichthe excess putty is crowded into and held by the blade within th line followed by the point of the blade in contact. with the glass in the path of the putty knife, so as to leave no excess or string of putty upon the glass laterally beyond the line followed by said point.

The advantages of the invention will appear more fully as I proceed with my specification.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective ,view of the improved Y Referring now to that embodiment of the invention illustrated and described herein, the improved putty knife may be formed as part of the ordinary putty knife, with the latter at one end and the improvement at the other. II] indicatessuch a putty knife consisting of a comparatively wide strip of sheet metal II having one end I2 disposed at a right or lesser angle to the length of the strip, as in the ordinary putty knife. The other end of said strip is reduced in width and is bent along its longitudinal median line to provide narrow blades I3, I3 disposed at an obtuse angle to each other (see Figur 3), with the ridge I4 thus formedcoincident with said longitudinal median line. The blades I3, I3 terminate in ends I5, I5 which are preferably disposed at an angle to th line of said ridge somewhat less than a right angle.

For a short distance back of said ends I5, I5

the blades are separated at the angle between them by a narrow slot IS. The construction thus far is .substantially like that shown in my aforesaid Patent No. 2,193,390.

In the present construction, the blades I3, I3 increase in width from the ends I5 towards the rear and beyond the slot I6 separating them to present lateral edges II, "which diverge somewhat from the longitudinal median ridge line I4 to points I1, I1 at which they terminate. Beyond said points the lateral edges I8, I8 of the tool converge somewhat towards said ridge line, finally merging in the edges I l II of the sheet metal strip II. The strip II is also bent up' at a slight angle to the ridge I4 at a point back of the points II Il as clearly shown in the drawing at I'Ib.

The new putty knife is used as follows: I9 indicates a window sash with a stop 20 against which a window pane 2| is to be secured by putty. 22 indicates the corner presented by the window sash adjacent the winow pane in the angle where the putty indicated at 23 is to be applied.

In the use of the improved putty knife, after the window pane has been secured against the stops 20 by brads in the usual way, putty is first applied roughly in any manner without any particular attempt to smooth or even it up, as for example by the ordinary putty knife end I2 of the strip II. The improved putty knife at the other. end of the strip is then applied with one blade I3 fiat against the face of the sash adjacent the corner 22 and with the lateral edge I! of the other blade I3 in contact with the glass and the upper corner of its end 15 engaged at or adjacent the corner 22 of the sash, as shown in Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5. In thus presenting the tool to the glass and sash, it may be gripped by one hand as shown in Figure 3, with the length of the tool disposed at an acute angle to the plane of the sash. This application of the tool with the lateral edge I! of one blade l3 engaged flat against the glass is facilitated by the upward bend of the metal strip H at the point I'l which permits contact and at the same time provides sufficient clearance for the fingers between the handle of the tool and the pane of glass.

The tool may be conveniently grasped with the fingers underneath the tool, and with the thumb disposed in line with the blade I3, which is thereby held in close contact with the sash. Beginning at the angle between two members of the sash, the tool is drawn down towards the other angle, preferably in one continuous movement. The one end I5 in engagement with the putty evens up and smooths the face of the putty to conform to the hypothenuse of the triangle designed to be formed in the angle between the window pane and the sash by the surface of the putty. The associated lateral edge ll of said blade 13, being held in engagement with the pane of glass in this movement, engages the excess putty within the dotted line 2" before it is reached by the end i5 and pushes it over into alignment with the bottom corner of said blade so as to draw it into line with the bottom edge 23 next adjacent the glass pane, as shown in Figures 2, 4 and 5.

Thus there remains no surplus of putty beyond the edge 23, to be afterwards removed by scraping as in the case of the operation of the putty knife of my said patent. Both blades [3 are preferably made of like width so the tool may be used either by the right hand or the left hand, the one blade lying fiat on the sash in the one case, and the other blade lying flat on the sash in the second case.

By making the blades of the improved putty knife at one end of a strip of metal, the other end of which is formed as an ordinary putty knife, the part of the strip intermediate the two ends constitutes an efficient handle for operating the improved putty knife at one end or the ordinary putty knife at the other end.

I claim as my invention:

1. A-putty knife comprising blades disposed at an obtuse angle to each other, with a space between them at the apex of said angle and extending to the ends of said blades, means providing a handle adapted 'to maintain said blades in said relation, and said blades each having a straight lateral edge diverging rearwardly from parallel relation to the line containing the apex of said obtuse angle.

2. A putty knife comprising blades disposed at an obtuse angle to each other, with a space between them at the apex of said angle and extending to the ends of said blades, means providing a handle adapted to maintain said blades in said relation, and each blade having a straight lateral edge extending from its end rearwardly back of said space, said blade being wider towards the rear than at its end.

3. A putty knife comprising blades disposed at an obtuse angle to each other, with a space between them at the apex of said angle and extending to the ends of said blades, means providing a handle adapted to maintain said blades in said relation, said blades each having a straight lateral edge diverging rearwardly from parallel relation to the line containing the apex of said obtuse angle and extending to points back of said space, and said handle being bent upwardly at an acute angle with reference to theplane containing the lateral edges of said blades about a line spaced back of the rear ends of said lateral edges.

4. A putty knife comprising blades disposed at an obtuse angle to each other, with a space between them at the apex of said angle and extending to the ends of said blades, means providing a handle adapted to maintain said blades in said relation, each blade having a straight lateral edge extending from its end rearwardly back of said space, said blade being wider towards the rear than at its end, and said handle being turned upwardly at an angle to the plane containing the lateral edges of said blades.

5. A putty knife comprising a metal strip bent at one end upon a longitudinal median line to provide like blades disposed at an obtuse angle to each other, the ridge formed by said bend being cut away near the ends of said blades to leave a space between themextending to said ends, and said blades having lateral edges extending back of said space and diverging slightly towards the rear from parallel .relation to the line of said ridge.

6. A putty knife comprising a metal strip bent at one end upon a longitudinal median line to provide like blades disposed at an obtuse angle to each other, the ridge formed by said bend being cut away near theends of said blades to leave a space between'them extending to said ends, said blades having lateral edges extending back of said space and diverging slightly towards the rear from parallel relation to the line of said ridge, zandisaid metal strip being bent upwardly at an acute angle about a line transverse of said ridge back of the rear end of said blades.

'FRANK R. BUSSERT. 

